This invention relates to magnet assemblies, and has particular reference to the construction of magnet assemblies for application to the human body for therapeutic purposes.
There is growing support for the belief that magnetic therapy is an effective non-invasive, no-side-effects treatment that can speed recovery from a variety of conditions ranging from tendinitis and back pain to migraine headaches and a neuromuscular condition known as fibromyalgia. While the results of medical testing is regarded, at least by some, as inconclusive, many people believe, particularly in the alternative medicine field, that the application of one or more small, powerful magnets to the area of an injury will relieve pain and accelerate healing.
The use of therapeutic magnets has become popular among professional athletes, particularly golfers, and among a growing segment of the general population, even though there is a lack of a complete understanding of how they work. One view is that magnets affect pain receptors in the body, and one source claims that they suppress nerve cell action potentials by affecting the electrical potential across the cell membrane of a sensory neuron. This theory is stated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,321, which also discloses a magnet device for application to the body for therapeutic purposes. This device comprises generally a plurality of permanent magnets that are embedded in a mass of plastic material forming a flat containment body. This body permanently holds the magnets in a selected arrangement and orientation, believed to be important for generation of the desired magnetic field. A thin woven sheath also is suggested, but not shown, as a housing for the magnets.
The present invention is an improvement in the construction of the holder for a magnet assembly of the same general kind that is disclosed in the aforesaid patent, providing an improved magnet assembly that can be mass-produced economically in large numbers, and which is highly effective for its intended purpose. The holder effectively receives, positions and holds one or more permanent magnets of selected size and shape, preferably with an armature of ferrous material for enhancing the magnetic properties of the assembly, and houses the magnets in a manner that enhances the comfort of the user.